The Controversy
by Clell65619
Summary: Harry returns from a personal 5 year crusade to find that something very important in his life has changed.


A/N: I do not own Harry Potter and would not particularly care to.

 **The Controversy**

A Harry Potter Adventure

Harry Potter exited customs pulling his bag behind him when he was suddenly intercepted by an organic missile shouting his name.

"HARRY!" the woman shrieked as she wrapped her arms around him. His face was suddenly buried in a mass of bushy hair identifying just who it was who was wrapping him in a hug.

Though the hair did seem to be a touch darker than he remembered.

"Hello, Hermione," He murmured, returning the hug. "It's good to be home."

Harry lifted his face from the mass of hair in time to spot Ron grabbing his right hand and shaking it hard. "It's about time you came back you bloody bastard. What were you thinking running off on your own?"

"Language Ron," Hermione said as she broke the clinch she was sharing with Harry. For the first time Harry could see her face. Those chocolate brown eyes were the same… and he recognized that disapproving expression as well… but her skin…

"Sorry Luv," the tall Red-head laughed before wrapping a long arm around Harry's shoulder. "Dinner at the Burrow tonight, Mum and Dad can't wait to see you. The Twins were arguing about kidnapping you or throwing a party to celebrate what you've done when we told them."

"Ginny and Bryan will be there," the woman so very like yet not Hermione said, leading the way out of the airport. "And probably Bill and Fleur as well."

"Hadn't heard from Percy or Charlie," Ron confided. "We'll be flooing from our place."

"I was really only planning on checking in at the Leaky…" Harry started.

"Harry Potter!" Not really Hermione said in a tone Harry could recognize in his sleep. "You've been gone off on your own for five years, risking yourself every day so that the rest of us could be safe. You aren't hiding at the Leaky Cauldron, you are staying with us, and that's final."

"You know as well as I do there's no point in arguing, Mate," Ron laughed as he lifted Harry's bag into the boot of a car.

Harry just stared into the oh so familiar brown eyes set into a face he didn't recognize. Not really Hermione stood beside the car, her arms crossed under her breasts, maintaining eye contact with him, almost daring him to disagree with her.

Just like Hermione had done so very many times.

"Okay, okay," he said, surrendering to the inevitable, just as he had always done.

Harry ignored Ron's smirk as the red-head gestured for him to get into the back seat of the car.

 **-oooOOOooo—**

Dinner with the Weasleys was as if Harry had never left, handshakes and hugs all around. Harry was introduced to Ginny's Australian husband who she had met on the International Quidditch circuit. Then one of Molly's meals, which was as wonderful as Harry remember.

All seven of the Weasley offspring were present, as well as Arthur, Molly, assorted spouses, and assorted children, but none of them seemed to notice the change in Hermione… or at least no one made mention of it.

All of this had Harry questioning his own memories. During his hunt for the remaining Death Eaters, he had been exposed to dozens of curses. Was this some sort of cumulative effect?

And if so, why were only his memories of Hermione affected?

It was with some relief Harry followed Ron from the Burrow for an after dinner conversation.

"This year, for sure," Ron assured Harry, after a half hour recitation of the last five disastrous seasons of the Chudley Canons.

"Rebuilding year," Harry nodded in feigned understanding. "It's amazing how much everything has stayed the same."

"Yeah," Ron agreed happily. "It was a little rough at the beginning, after you took off after the Death Eaters."

"They attacked us at your wedding, Ron," Harry sighed. "You and Hermione were in the hospital for more than a month. I left my reasoning in the letter."

"I know, and I agree with you, for the most part," Ron laughed, slapping Harry on the back. "But let me tell you, Hermione was completely brassed off at you. I just wish I could have been there when you found Malfoy, just to be a witness."

"I don't think you really want to have seen what happened, Ron," Harry sighed. "It wasn't pretty, and I'm not really all that proud of it. But I do want to talk to you about something."

"Anything, Mate," Ron assured him. "You know that."

"Well, it's about Hermione," Harry confessed.

"What about her?" Ron asked.

"Ron," Harry hesitated, wondering just how stupid what he was about to say was going to sound. "She's black."

"Yeah," Ron said in a questioning tone.

"Well, she didn't used to be," Harry pointed out.

"She didn't?" Ron asked, his brow knit in confusion.

"Ron, think back to school," Harry said. "Remember how pale she was in the deep of the winters, and how she'd come back to school after the summer with her parents with a tan?"

"Huh," Ron said with a dawning realization.

"And just before your wedding, Ginny, Luna, Susan and Hermione all went to a Tanning salon to that they would 'glow' in their gowns for the wedding."

"Now that you mention it," Ron nodded, "yeah, she did used to be white, didn't she? Now that I think about it, I think she changed about a year after the wedding, but I didn't pay that much attention, it was during the Quidditch Draft and because of the Canon's standings in the league, they had 28 first round draft choices, and …."

"The Quidditch Draft?" Harry asked, resisting the urge to face palm.

"Yeah," Ron nodded. "I guess I just figured that it was just something Muggleborn witches do."

"Change skin color?" Harry asked, giving in to his urge and massaging his forehead.

"Yeah, I mean nothing else changed," Ron carried on. "She is still Hermione in every way that mattered. She still bitches me out when I'm an idiot, she still runs the Ministry ragged, she still worried about you, and no one else seemed to notice. I mean, even you didn't say anything until just now. I sort of forgot about it."

Harry sat down on the old bench next to the broom storage shed. "Hermione changed from a white woman to a black woman and no one noticed?"

"Well," Ron said as he joined his oldest friend on the bench. "It's not like skin color really matters, does it?"

"Well…" Harry hesitated, "not really, but in this case…"

"I mean, I know my own wife, after all," Ron said with finality.

"Yeah, I suppose you do," Harry agreed.

The pair sat in silence for several moments.

"So," Harry said, "Hermione hasn't really changed in any important way? She's still Hermione?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded.

"Still scary?"

"Oh, Bloody Hell, yes." Ron agreed.

Harry nodded as well, and considered what he had learned. "In that case, it might be best if I didn't mention the whole 'used to be white' thing."

"I wouldn't," Ron said authoritatively.

 **A/N: '** _ **So**_ **', I hear readers asking** _ **'What the hell was that all about?**_ **'**

 **The Internet went slightly insane over the casting of Noma Dumezweni as Hermione in the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and a certain level of, well, let's call it knuckle dragging racism exposed itself in the HP fandom.**

 **Ms Rowling weighed in noting that Hermione was only describe in the text of the books as having bushy hair and brown eyes (and large buck teeth in the early books). Now, this gentle writer views this pronouncement from the Great Author much the same way he view her post Deathly Hallows pronouncements that Dumbledore was gay and Voldemort is pronounced without the 't'. Pointless nonsense. If Ms Rowling hadn't intended Hermione to be a white girl, then she wouldn't have been part of casting a white girl to play her in the movies. (Or allowed the 't' to be pronounce in Voldemort)**

 **I know that I pictured a white girl in the Hermione role when I read the books. In fact I pictured all of the characters as white unless the text specifically said otherwise, meaning Dean, Lee, Angelina, Su, Cho and the Patils (and any others I might have forgotten.) I fully acknowledge that other people might have pictured the characters differently depending upon their personal POVs and life experiences.**

 **That being said, I've seen some of Noma Dumezweni's work and she is a wonderful actress. Far more skilled, if truth be told that Ms Watson. And we are talking about a stage play. The Actors will come and go. The whole brouhaha isn't worth the attention paid to it.**

 **So, what better target for a smart ass with a word processor?**


End file.
